The present invention relates to a storage package for an article such as a recording medium, and more particularly to such a storage package which can accommodate a booklet as well.
It is known to provide a storage package for an article in the form of a pair of panels secured together by a spine and movable between a closed storage orientation, wherein the panels are substantially overlying with the article disposed intermediate the pair of panels, and an open use orientation, wherein the panels are not substantially overlying and the article is accessible. Typically, a holder is mounted on one of the panels in order to receive and maintain thereon the article.
It is frequently desirable to include within a storage package a multipage booklet as well as the article. Where the article is a recording medium, the booklet may be associated with the article and describe the performer, the performance, or provide other related printed material. Accordingly, the other panel (that is, the panel on which the holder is not mounted) often includes a pocket or half-pocket configured and dimensioned to receive the booklet or defines by means of vertically extending side tabs a substantially open compartment from which the recording medium is excluded and which is suitable for releasably receiving and maintaining the booklet. These arrangements have not proven to be entirely satisfactory, as they require that the booklet be placed with some degree of care within the pocket, half-pocket or compartment.
On the other hand, if the booklet is simply placed between the upper face of the holder and the other panel (that is, the panel which does not mount the holder), then when the panels are put into the closed storage orientation, there will be a bulging of the other panel unless suitable space has been provided between the two panels, and more particularly between the upper surface of the recording medium on the holder and the other panel). While the holder may define a cavity of sufficient depth to receive both the article and the booklet thereabove so that the booklet does not extend above the upper face of the cavity and therefore does not cause the panels to bulge when they are in the closed storage orientation, this solution presents its own unique problems.
For example, in order to easily remove a compact disk from a holder, the edge of the compact disk must be readily accessible to the fingertips of the person attempting to remove it from the holder. Where the compact disk is disposed at the bottom of a cavity of substantially greater depth or thickness than the thickness of the compact disk, the edge of the compact disk is not readily accessible to the fingertips. Complicating this problem is the fact that a booklet may vary substantially in thickness--for example, from four pages to 80 pages. If the cavity is to have the potential to accommodate the 80-page booklet, which may be about 1/5" thick, the cavity in the holder must have a thickness of 1/5" plus the thickness of the compact disk. Thus, once a thick booklet is removed, the compact disk disposed at the bottom of the cavity is not only difficult to remove, but also presents an isolated, lonely appearance.
The overly deep cavity solution discussed above is furthermore inapplicable to storage packages where there are a plurality of the holders mounted on the same panel and in the same plane, for example, in order to allow the storage of two compact disks side-by-side in the package. In this situation, while it is possible to put a small booklet having a plan surface size about the size of a cavity in each of the holders, the presence of the common wall precludes the disposition within the cavities of a booklet larger in plan surface size than the size of one cavity.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a storage package for an article and a booklet wherein the booklet is supported on the article.
Another object is to provide such a storage package wherein, after removal of the booklet, the article is readily accessible.
A further object is to provide such a storage package which in one embodiment can accommodate a pair of the articles and a booklet which is approximately the size of the storage package.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide such a storage package which is one embodiment is adapted to accommodate a plurality of articles in a given plane and a booklet almost as large as the storage package itself.
It is another object to provide such a storage package which is inexpensive to manufacture and assemble and simple to use and maintain.